Gateway MX6433 and Ati 200m... Grafic issue - Page 2

Slight mistake there. I'm trying to get the graphics memory to 128 megs. No joy. System properties show 64 megs.

.. or 256mb according to this page from ati site
...
* Radeon® Xpress 200 Series for AMD platforms
o Radeon® Xpress 200 64MB HyperMemory™
o Radeon® Xpress 200 128MB HyperMemory™
o Radeon® Xpress 200 256MB HyperMemory™
o Radeon® Xpress 200M 64MB HyperMemory™
o Radeon® Xpress 200M 128MB HyperMemory™
o Radeon® Xpress 200M 256MB HyperMemory™
...
http://ati.amd.com/technology/hypermemory.html (down at the bottom of the page)

cheers ...

I'm not even convinced adding allocating more RAM to the integrated video card would yield any difference, if anything it would hinder performance since you are losing system RAM. I think I've seen negligible performance increase, sometimes decrease when adding more ram to the video card.

Ok kiddies. I have the answer for you direct from Gateway on this problem

That is interesting. Just for kicks, I installed Neverwinter Nights 2 on my machine, and it would not launch. The game said I only had 64 megs of video ram.

I have contacted a national Class Action Law firm about this blatant false advertising. I received a phone call from them this morning. I'm waiting for more info. They are interested in the case. It's kind of funny that the MX6426 is no longer listed on the Gateway site as a computer that is available for sale.


One other thing that bugs me is that I registered the machine on-line when I purchased it and yet the Gateway support system doesn't recognize my serial number.

Doh!! I forgot all about that! Gateway doesn't recognize my serial # either. So now I'm wondering if I am going to be able to get my Vista disk...
Please post more details re: your CAL as they become available....

I will keep the forum up to date on what's going on.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems with GW support and not recognizing the serial number. I even registered the machine on-line when I bought it. With out the serial number it's pretty hard to get support and find files and updates for the machine.

Vista is kind of a non-issue right now for me. Without the 128 megs of video memory the version of Vista we are supposed to receive won't even run correctly.

Aye. I also have the MX6426 and been fighting with Gateway over the same issue!!! The statement regard the inability to adjust the memory because it is controled by the chipset is bogus. I have an HP with the same chipset and the UMA memory is controlled in the BIOS without issue. This issue is simply because some yahoo at Gateway doesn't understand the chipset.

If you get the CAL going, count me in. I have all my correspondence with Gateway.

Don't know if this has anything to do with the crappy ATI Video/Chipset drivers that Gateway is using on some of the MX64XX models, but, Today, when I went to Gateway's drivers web site, they seem to have changed all of that for VISTA, and now, there using Nvidia Video & Nvidia chipset drivers for there VISTA Upgrade, seems kinda funny that Gateway is dropping ATI support and now using Nvidia instead.........also I noticed a NEW VISTA BIOS update as well? http://support.gateway.com/support/d...param=1013932R This covers Gateway Models : Gateway MX6453 Notebook [Part #1013913R] \tGateway MX6446 Notebook [Part #1013927R] \tGateway MX6447 Notebook [Part #1013932R] \tGateway MX6454 Notebook [Part #1013943R] \tGateway MX6439 Notebook [Part #1013947R] \tGateway MX6431 Notebook [Part #1014121R] \tGateway MT6451 Notebook [Part #1014129R] Gateway MX6448 Notebook [Part #1013912R]

It's funny that they would release a BIOS as Vista only which it wouldn't be. However, that BIOS is the 64.08 BIOS which mine came from Gateway with. It's not really an upgrade if it's the same BIOS. Oh, that and the Winphlash that comes with it fails and the only way I could check it was with Phlash16.exe which is a DOS based flashing tool.

"Gateway Windows Vista BIOS version: 68.04"
Gateway Parts Supported:

Gateway MX6441 Notebook [Part #1009033]
Gateway MX6444 Notebook [Part #1009035]
Gateway MX6444h Notebook [Part #1009094]
Gateway MX6422 Notebook [Part #1009100]
Gateway MX6445 Notebook [Part #1009110]
Gateway MX6427 Notebook [Part #1009111]
Gateway MX6429 Notebook [Part #1009128]
Gateway MX6426 Notebook [Part #1014029R]
Gateway MX6433 Notebook [Part #1014062R]
Blade-K8 UMA MBD w/ATI RS482M w/1394 - QUANTA (FRU) [Part #4006115R]

That New BIOS that is suppose to made for Vista Only will not install on a MCE 2005 OS, that is what I was Told, that's why it FAILS, unless your running VISTA, after you install Vista, you have to run the new BIOS with Admin rights in Vista, so it will install and work correctly.................

I seriously doubt anything that Gateway says right now based on their responses to the video memory issue. ("The PC is locked to 64M yet it dynamically uses up to 128M." and "All shared system memory chipsets have 128M of dynamic memory.")

I also doubt it since the version number of the BIOS is the exact same as the version that I am running straigt from the retailer (sealed box) which is 68.04. If it was a different BIOS, it would have a different revision number if not a different version number (68.05 or 69.01 or something). And, it appeared to be the exact same version once I got phlash16 to work. Also, the revision history included in the BIOS package (6804.txt) did not indicate any information regarding Vista. Only bug fixes with XP.

It should be noted that the version of WinPhlash that is included in the new Gateway BIOS package is an older version that many other manufacturers use for XP based PCs and not a Vista based version (again, based on Version and Release numbers). Also it's not even the latest verison from Pheonix.

The technician that compiled the BIOS has not cleared the LOG file for the Winphlash in a long time. Was interesting to read but sad that they didn't think to clear the log before they released the package.



Not disagreeing with you. Just don't trust Gateway right now and the version numbers don't add up that this BIOS is anything special.

Oh and the response from Gateway regarding this issue (as I pushed for an answer there as well) was that the Serial # based support was designed to work with their non-retail custom machines ONLY since each machine is different even with the same model number. No retail version serial numbers are supposed to loaded in that database since they are all configured exactly the same. At least that makes sense even if it makes it seem that 'Retail' sold PC's are 2nd class to them. Well in theory....since they change configurations mid-build and the MX6426 have two different types of Wireless LAN cards listed....

Yeah, I understand, Vista seem to be the least of your problems right now, I do hope you get this FIXED somehow, and I really don't blame you for being unhappy with Gateway, so, untill this problem is FIXED, Give Em' HELL I sure would, what do you have to loose at this point.......before I bought my MX6447, I made damm sure it had 128/256MB of Hypermemory, I played with it on a display Floor Model they had at CC back in NOV 2006
before I even bought it, so I knew just what it was capable of............

Bump - Any new info? Has anyone actually tried the new bios release w/ Vista?

I tried it, but after 5 or 6 failed attemps I gave up after serveral error messeages, I contacted Gateway Tech Support about this issue, but they didn't have a clue, all they said was, if your Vista is working, then you don't need it, also, the New Vista ATI Xpress 1150 Driver Update seem not to have the Hyper-Memory Function installed in Vista, I thought that the New Vista BIOS Update would correct this problem, but, ATI is working on another ATI Xpress 1150 Driver for Vista w/ Hyper-Memory, so, I was told by Gateway to go to ATI website, but didn't find any new Vista Drivers? , so, until then, I'm stuck at (128MB shared video) and can't go up to 265MB of Video Ram Buffer ,like I did in Media Center 2005.........OH WELL, I'm getting 2.0 Rating Score for Video in Vista, but in everything else I'm getting a Score of 4 or 5 Rating, so much for Shared Video Graphics in Vista, it worked a lot better in XP, so, for now, my Graphics isn't very good, but Aero Glass seems to work tho......I hope they fix this soon cuz ,I can't really do much to Fix the Crappy Graphics I'm getting in Vista.......don't get me wrong here, it does work, but, it just doesn't look very good to me.............looks like it's something I'm gonna have to live with for now..........

Official response from GW: "In response to your concern on the ATI video memory issue, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you. I have already forwarded this information to our proper channels and we will contact you regarding this matter as soon as we have the proper information for this issue."

Classic! How did you contact them? If you sent them an e-mail or something like that could you pm me the text of the message and what addy you sent it to? I'll forward the exact same thing to them, so they are aware this isn't an isolated incident.

denb45: Sorry about your experience! I'm a little bit disillusioned with Gateway. (And Bestbuy for that matter, they were about as much help as a dog turd. Geeksquad my a$$)